Briefs Finally Filed in FLDS Motion to Suppress

What I found interesting was this line in the article in the San Angelo Standard Times:

"It was not clear when Walther will rule on the motion to suppress."

Remember I have guessed that Walther will probably recuse herself. Also, I mentioned that the filings would be late, but no news was leaking out as to why, though it appeared more time had been asked for.

"It was unclear (today) why the documents came in well after the original deadline set by the judge."

The State's filing is HERE, and the defense, HERE. The defense PDF is searchable, the State's is not.

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Does this even need a comment? Probably.

Write your own, and post it in comments, if you wish.

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Do you want to live forever?

Stretch that lifespan out. Maybe you can live a billion years and watch the sun run dry. Maybe a shorter lifespan was a mercy to the Godly.

Science Magazine - "In a new study, researchers report that an antibiotic called rapamycin--after the island's Polynesian name, Rapa Nui--enabled middle-aged mice to live up to 16% longer than their rapa-free counterparts. The discovery marks the first time a drug has been shown to lengthen life span in mammals, even when administered late in life.

Scientists first stumbled on rapamycin in soil samples taken from Easter Island in 1965. A bacterium found in the soil, Streptomyces hygroscopicus, secreted the stuff to fend off its bacterial and fungal rivals. Rapamycin has since been used to prevent organ rejection in transplant patients and, most recently, as an antitumor drug. The compound works by inhibiting mTOR, a protein that regulates cell growth and survival. When researchers realized that calorie restriction, which is known to lengthen life spans in mice, also suppresses mTOR activity, they began to wonder if rapamycin might boost longevity as well."

Oops, but there is a flaw in this Eden and it's tree of life.

"Don't expect antiaging drugs to hit the market anytime soon, though. Rapamycin is known to raise cholesterol levels and, as a potent immune system suppressant, the compound could make its consumers more susceptible to infections. (Matthew) Kaeberlein hopes future studies will measure the health of rapa-enhanced mice and the effects of varying rapamycin doses, in hopes of divorcing the drug's benefits from its dangers."

Still...

"(M)ice lived 28% to 38% longer than the controls from that point on, the researchers report in Nature, the equivalent of 6 to 9 extra years in humans. Their overall life expectancy rose 5% to 16%."

Hat tip to "Everyday Christian" and Elizabeth Renter who opines:

"People have searched out the 'cure' for aging and death since way before Ponce De Leon combed Florida in 1513. Perhaps it is the unconscious fear of death that many have or just the desire to stick around a little longer that pushes humanity to explore the possibility of immortality or anything resembling it."

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Blogging Future, Navel Gazing, Site Rankings

Count me as having my jaw to about knee level.

I've decided that part of my site ranking increase is the fact that it's summer and weird people like me don't know that, and weird people who read my blog regularly are like me in that regard. No sooner than I think I've topped out (again) but another round of site rankings reveal that I'm still on my way up. For those of you who want some substantive news, skip to the end of this post and I promise something self centered but newsworthy with regard to the Modern Pharisee will be revealed.

First of all, the self congratulatory site rankings post, along with some observations that might be worthwhile for the budding, mid level or semi serious blogger.

As of Today, Sunday July 12th, 2009 the Pharisee ranks 378,185th in the world as a site. That's not too bad really. More importantly my site rank in the United States is 68,639th. Some comparisons and blathering to hopefully make this interesting to the rest of you.

As a blogger, I am several things. In order of formative influences in life, I am a pastors grandson, a missionary kid, a bad student, flunked Greek and Latin, got "A's" in Calculus in Grad School and went on to be a Disc Jockey, a Car Salesman, a Bank Collector then a Loan officer, back to Cars as a "Finance Manager" (this is what I am now) with detours into Radio ad sales, though not necessarily in that particular order. I've read the Bible cover to cover more times than I can count, in excess of thirty times. To scoop all this together and make it into some sort of substantive impact however temporary in the "bloggosphere" impresses me in terms of how unlikely it all is. Mostly, I'm a "Car Guy" and that doesn't lend itself to the word "impressive" in most people's thinking.

So I look across the blogging world and compare myself to other bloggers and therein is the jaw dropping stuff.

Grits, a blog I am very impressed with is ranked 71,791 in the United States. Me? Bigger than Grits? That's like saying I'm the next best thing since sliced bread. Scott is an impressive blogger and a better writer than I.

The Irreverent Bill Medvecky, chock full of hyperbole and fun loving vitriol (how can those two things be said together?) has been swapping FLDS centered blogging leadership with me over the last several months. Bill is at 66,006* in this country and 351,513th in the world. Clearly US rank has a lot to do with World Wide ranking, as we are the biggest consumer of internet services and publishing.

Comparing Bill and Scott and myself though, there are some interesting observations to make. One is about "on site" time. I'm at 8.6 minutes per unique visitor per day, Bill at 2.6 and Scott at 2.0. This brings up the subject of what I think might be called "spamming" a site.

Scott ranks 113,476th in the Philippines. Are people really interested in the goings on in Texas criminal law practices to that extent, in the Philippines? Let's look at another site, that of LaShawn Barber. Lashawn has appeared on national cable programs and;

"Barber is a native of South Carolina. An alcoholic in her younger years, Barber took a vow of sobriety and abstinence shortly before her thirtieth birthday. She later moved to Washington, D.C. to serve as a legislative correspondent for a Democratic senator. She eventually became a political conservative and a Christian.

Since Barber turned to writing, her articles, book reviews, columns and essays have been published in The Washington Times, The Washington Post, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Denver Post, the Baltimore Times Online, Today's Christian Woman and other publications. Her work has also appeared online at Jewish World Review, National Review Online, Townhall.com and other sites."

So she's a big deal. Credentialed and all that jazz. I outrank her nationally but not world wide. You'd have to figure that LaShawn is an important read in North American, and perhaps England but really, France and India? I'd say "spamming" is an issue with her site as well, with a cumulative unique visitor on site time of 1.4 minutes a day. This is not to say that LaShawn doesn't have legit readers, she certainly does, but it would seem that some sites have their numbers "massaged" to some degree.

Then there is my friend Rick Beckman who has a legitimate site rank of 60,464. Rick wrote a plug in for Wordpress bloggers and that accounts for the majority of hits on his site, he says. They have to go to "Rickbeckman.org" to download it I guess, and there you go. Apparently it's a very handy plug in and Rick is profiting from that.

60's and 70's musical counter culture Icon Joni Mitchell? Yes, the Modern Pharisee draws more world wide. Weird to me, believe me, very weird. Bob Dylan? He kicks my hiney, trust me.

So it would seem that you can make a dent in public perception coming from about anywhere in the social spectrum. You can even pass your childhood music idols which has a truly disturbing quality to it. Some part of me never wants to be more popular than Joni Mitchell in any way shape or form, no matter how trivial.

All of this makes me wonder how someone ends up being on a "Bill O'Reilly" or "Sean Hannity" or "Anderson Cooper" or "Larry King" show. Certainly I have controversial enough views to rate. Clearly there's a bit of a machine and a selection process when it comes to allowing people into the corridors of powerful publicity. My friends tell me that having a book would do the trick or at least grease the skids towards that sort of appearance. That of course, will have to wait.

So the last part of the post on navel gazing site rankings and superstar comparisons and site news is this: I've settled a way of handling my religious obligations to my church who of course, disagree with me on a prominent blogging topic of the Modern Pharisee. I will for a time, if necessary, suspend the blogging on that topic for the duration of my debate with them, should they elect to compel me in that regard.

I strongly believe for good reason that I should submit to the governance of my church, even if I think they are wrong, and of course, even when I disagree with them. This has limits. They owe me edification. Assuming I am wrong simply telling me "you're wrong" and "shut up" only works in venues like the Catholic Church. In venues such as conservative reformed and Presbyterian denominations, you owe a man an explanation when he agrees with Luther but not the Westminster Confession of Faith. To that end I will archive all my advocacy regarding a certain marriage doctrine until that debate is over, should they agree to "edify" me in that way. Those of you who know me, know what I'm talking about. If there is to be a book it will be on the other end of this process. It might even end up to some degree being about that process.

On a completely different note I've been listening to Pandora Radio during the composing of this post. I've observed that as far as Pandora is concerned, my favorite song is "End of the Line" by "The Traveling Wilburys." There is some justification for this even though I am sometimes dubious. I never tire of hearing the song. The Wilburys consisted of George Harrison (The Beatles) and Roy Orbison when they were alive, and also the still living Bob Dylan, Tom Petty (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) and Jeff Lynne (Electric Light Orchestra). I like them all and no doubt Pandora figured that out and plays "End of the Line" in what I would call "Hot Rotation" on my personal Pandora Channel. There are days I just nod my head and say "They're right."

I do however have other tastes as reflected by the selection of songs like these:

"Something More Than This" - October Project from "Falling Farther In"
"The Flood at Lyons" - Renaissance from "Azure D'or"
"Polar Nettles" - Nico Case from "Middle Cyclone"
"Hold on, Hold on," also by Nico Case but from "Fox Confessor Brings The Flood"

I wish Pandora would realize how much I like Mary Fahl and her former band "October Project." "Something More Than This" shows the immense power of Fahl's voice in a way that brings tears to the eyes. Sadly there is no Mary Fahl and the "October Project" any longer, but for the music lover, that makes it easy on the budget since all that can be had under that band's banner is out there and is small enough a collection so as not to break the budget.

Enough rambling for the evening. Please put me on your prayer list. I'm really going to need it next Sunday. In other news, tomorrow is the Anniversary of my wife and I marrying on Flathead Lake in Montana. We have two other anniversaries of marriage. Yes, I know it's weird and I won't explain. Tomorrow is the one my wife likes best. It was our public ceremony and we composed our own vows. Their was no priest or minister in keeping with our marriage beliefs. It was on a lake, not in a church. I am a fortunate man indeed.

*as of July 15th, I moved slightly ahead of Bill. Again. Post something Bill!

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Happy Birthday John Calvin

And I can just get it in under the wire.

Prominent Reformer John Calvin would have been 500 today, merely entering middle age if this was a time before the flood. But it's not.

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That's a peach! No, that would be Impeach.

Brazzil Magazine - "Mayara Tavares is 16 and lives in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil."

Both men appear to look in the video of the incident though if Obama really does, he more or less steals a sly look. She's 16 gentlemen. That's impeach, not a peach.

You Decide.

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That's my boy

He's in Butte Montana and I'm in Vermont. There's very little I can do about it.

The Montana Standard - "Cameron J. McBryde, 27, faces a felony in a March 29 robbery attempt at the restaurant at 1955 Dewey Blvd., according to court papers.

McBryde is accused of attempting to rob the business just after midnight with another man. The pair allegedly entered the restaurant through a rear door while two employees were closing up. The two masked men hit the two employees with large flashlights and ordered them to the floor.

However, the two employees fought back, and the robbers fled the building without stealing anything from the business.

One of the alleged robbers was either struck by an employee or slipped on the ice as he tried to escape. He fell and injured his head on the ground."

Good for the employees of the Burger King, I hope none faced lasting injury from their encounter with the piece of human debris that is my only natural son. I have six children by some count, I married two women with two children and had two of my own with my first wife who threw me out in 1995. I fought vigorously to be part of my genetic children's lives. I failed. At this time my step children from my second wife are more my own than any I sired naturally. The above picture is probably as revealing of what my only son really is, both internally and externally.

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I don't feel so bad now

Yabba Dabba Do, I'm not the only one.

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"Angel One, here we come!" Men an endangered species?

Believe it. Maybe men will disappear, maybe the FLDS will use the science to breed more wives. Maybe we're in a Star Trek episode.

The Telegraph - "Human stem cells are being used to create ersatz sperm, whose effects are real.Within 10 years, the scientists say the technique could also be used to allow infertile couples to have children that are genetically their own. It could even be possible to create sperm from female stem cells, they say, which would ultimately mean a woman having a baby without a man."

Men after all, are beasts. Didn't former Colorado Representative Patricia Schroeder tell you that? Hasn't Judge Sonia Sotomayor told you this as well?

"In the technique developed at Newcastle University, stem cells with XY chromosomes – containing both male and female characteristics – were developed.

A laser was used to separate and isolate the male stem cells and they were then grown in a dish. Researchers saw the cells split and divide, then eventually push out a tail and head and begin to move.

These were shown to produce fully mature, functional sperm, they say."

Men are not necesary? Time Magazine's cover story this week by Caitlin Flanagan, disputes the claim.

"Few things hamper a child as much as not having a father at home. 'As a feminist, I didn't want to believe it,' says Maria Kefalas, a sociologist who studies marriage and family issues and co-authored a seminal book on low-income mothers called Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage. 'Women always tell me, "I can be a mother and a father to a child," but it's not true.' Growing up without a father has a deep psychological effect on a child. 'The mom may not need that man,' Kefalas says, 'but her children still do.' "

There is a certain sort of radical feminist that drives political agendas that will in fact make every effort to delete men from the gene pool now that it appears possible to do so. Will God permit that? I seriously doubt that a no men world will be the coming apocalypse, but it may play a part. Men continue to be marginalized. Maybe we'll be kept around as a safety valve in case gene machines break down.

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Strangely Appealing

Found at Eddie Eddings' "Calvinistic Cartoons."

How about another?

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Allen Steed shows up on the this month's Court Calender

We knew it was going to happen, but now it's a "searchable" result of an inquiry to St. George County.

07/07/09 03:43:17 PAGE 244

FIFTH DISTRICT COURT-ST GEORGE
G RAND B
JULY 21, 2009
COURTROOM TBD TUESDAY
10:30 AM SPECIAL SET RESOLUTION S27 071501596 STATE FELONY
STATE OF UTAH ATTY: BELNAP, BROCK R
FILTER, BRIAN G
VS.
STEED, ALLEN GLADE ATTY: BRADSHAW, JIM C
OTN: 19095116 DOB: 05/12/1981
F1 - RAPE - 04/14/01

It's still fascinating to me that Allen has never been "at large" and the supposed "rape" occurred in April of 2001. 8 years people. To my knowledge Allen has never been accused of a similar act. EIGHT YEARS.

Does this make the supposed crime any less heinous if it actually occurred? Of course not but EIGHT YEARS? A conviction for a crime that occurred EIGHT YEARS and 3 months ago that there is no forensic evidence for between two people who both acknowledge consensual relations at other times? Do we not dilute what rape is by saying that what occurred between Elissa Wall and Allen Steed was rape? A rape that was essentially a "repressed memory" for Elissa Wall?

I'm hoping that Allen continues with his unwillingness to "cop a plea" and that the resolution hearing produces nothing of real value unless it is to drop the charges. We don't know what the prosecution is going to offer as a minimum deal. Be aware that Allen could be offered a plea bargain deal of some non sexual kind of assault such as restraining or beating Elissa illegally, if that is indeed possible at this late a date. I don't know how the statutes of limitations figure into such deals. It may not be possible to offer Allen a misdemeanor assault conviction if the time limit for that crime is say, 18 months. If possible to offer such a deal it would afford the prosecution a way to crow that Allen was willing to plead out, when what he was pleading out to was giving her a "wrist burn" or something to that effect. That certainly would grab headlines.

April 14th, 2001 was a Saturday night by the way. They must have been doing their taxes when Allen got "real frustrated" or something to that effect. Someone ought to check though, when Allen filed is taxes in 2001. It might be a defense.

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Records Set! Benchmarks Exceeded! (Whatever)

To my constant astonishment, the Modern Pharisee continues to grow.

If you look at this post some day in the future, it may not reflect the numbers you see now. Indeed, if I am forced into a hiatus as may very well occur, then numbers will certainly drop. As of today though, the Modern Pharisee ranks in the following ways:

399,885th 397,552nd in the world. This means there are 399,884 397,551 web sites with better numbers than mine.

79,870th 79,169th in the United States. Most of the Pharisee's readers are in this country. Some comparisons:

Bill Medvecky's "Free the FLDS Children" currently outranks the Modern Pharisee. Bill continues to stay almost exclusively on the FLDS as a topic, and as soon as I branched out (there being no significant FLDS news of late), he shot up. There was a brief and shining moment when I was the leading FLDS centric site in the whole wide world, I now give that crown to Bill, for the time being at least, he is 355,853rd in the world, and 62,134th in the United States. It seems that there remains a lot of interest in the story, even with a dearth of news on the subject, so with him being the only one really "on it" other than Brooke Adams, he gets all the traffic. Anti FLDS sites don't really seem to count as it could be argued that Bill gets more traffic than all of them combined.

It's also possible that I may outrank all the reformed and Presbyterian conservative denominations rolled together. At least I outrank them all individually coming in ahead of them world wide, and also stateside. That's a significant accomplishment for a site with no resources plying unpopular topics, having no budget, no real earnings and one author.

I outrank in the United States a site called "Tektonics," an apologetic resource whose author has taken me to task in the past, often mentioning his site ranking as an indicator of how much more significant his work was. I'm not trying to open old wounds, I'm just saying.....

Tektonics "sister site" would have to be "Dee Dee" Warren's "Theologyweb." This again is in the United States only, and "Tweb" is trending downwards. World wide, like Tektonics, Tweb has more participants and readers. All of these sites that I mention do not approach the intense interest you the reader have showered the Pharisee with because I have an on site time rank of 9 minutes, exceeding by a factor of three all the sites I have mentioned above. You come, you stay, you read. I thank you.

I'm now within shooting distance of a blog I greatly respect, though I suspect Scott at Grits is markedly to the left of me on the political spectrum. Still, the FLDS subject revealed a lot of common libertarian ground between some left leaning bloggers and right leaning bloggers. It was refreshing to see. "GritsForBreakfast" ranks 307,831st world wide, and 74,327th in the United States. See what I mean by "Shooting Distance?" I never thought I'd be in the same league when he mentioned 14 months ago that I was "Pretty Animated" about the YFZ raid. One of the concerns Scott and I share would be that of prison. I'm probably considered by most to be to the extreme left of Grits, as I wouldn't have any. It's Biblical NOT to have prisons, look it up.

All of this may provide a reason to keep with blogging in the future, regardless of what restrictions might be imposed on me by those whose authority I must respect. We'll see. The view is nice up here. I'd like to stay awhile.

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Notice

Concerning future operations.

Read it here.

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One of the more Eloquent Iranian Protests.

One of the more stark protest images coming in reaction to the death of Neda.

Found here.

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A Man, a Woman and Another Woman, and Murder.

And suicide? I would probably have told you three things about Steve McNair if you asked. He did everything asked of him to win Super Bowl XXXIV but the Titans fell short (that's not Steve pictured) after dominating the game in every statistical category except the scoreboard.

The other two? He seemed to be able to play no matter what injury plagued him, often not practicing all week, showing up on game day and still turning in an effort required of him. Off the field it was alcohol, guns, cars and finally another woman entering the mix.

"After another playoff loss in 2002, McNair was arrested for DUI and illegal gun possession in May 2003. His blood alcohol was above 0.10, and a 9-mm handgun had been sitting in the front of the car."

This served as a foreshadowing of his own death.

(CNN) - "Police said they found McNair and a woman identified as Sahel Kazemi shot to death after receiving a phone call about an injured person.

McNair's body was found seated on a living room sofa, authorities said.

Kazemi sustained a gunshot wound to the head, authorities said. Police also said a pistol was found near her body."

The Tennessean adds the detail that Steve had been shot several times.

"McNair, a hometown hero who did extensive charity work in Nashville, had several gunshot wounds, including one to the head."

Since Ms. Kazemi (her Facebook page?) had only been shot once in the head, initial indicators say she shot Steve, and then herself.

It's hard to believe that McNair's wife Mechelle didn't know of his off the field endeavors, including other women. Often wives of famous men stay with them because of the security and status they provide, winking by not "knowing" about their private indiscretions. This is Governor Mark Sanford all over again, with guns and alcohol and a much younger woman, ending not in political suicide, but death.

Murder, lying, secrecy and substance abuse are not excused by the legitimacy of polygyny, but it's sad to see this happen to Mr. McNair and I have to openly wonder at what set the chain of events off, apart from men and women's sinful nature. Steve probably told Ms. Kazemi something she did not want to hear, probably "I'm going back to my wife" and his concubine shot him, then herself. At this point that's the best scenario that can be hoped for.

Steve had just opened a restaurant last month called the "Gridiron 9."

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Palin Sailin' into Sunset?

Increasingly, it looks like Palin just took a hike. That's the superficial simple analysis, and there may be many more layers underneath that superficial appearance.

No one rushing to her side is the most telltale of all the signals. From the Daily Beast:

"(Gov. Sarah) Palin may have resigned from politics altogether. According to NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, Palin 'has told some of her biggest backers in the national Republican Party that they are free to choose other candidates for 2012.' But those choices are dwindling at a surprisingly rapid pace."

Believe me, I consider the sources, but those sources so far are without credible refutation. Normally when you're spinning a story, someone comes out to spin it your way, and the opposition spins it their way. Andrea Mitchell et al would seem to want to spin against the Governor, that's to be expected.

Newt Gingrich, Michael Steele, Bobby Jindal, and the conservative Talk Show Hosts are all oblivious in advance, and few if any rush to her side. The timing was even such that Rush Limbaugh, who was on the air Friday, was off it, before she came to the microphone.

Geoffrey Dunn points out that she's done this before, and assigns her the label of "Quitter."

I have been a fan of a "Palinesque" type candidate except not a fan of Palin being that candidate from the get go. To accept a woman as a leader for someone of such strict Biblical leanings as myself, is a defeat in and of itself. For that reason I am sure some of you will shout to me that I am a sexist. So be it. Only because she is a woman do I regard her as a poor choice, in all other ways I greatly respect her as a political figure and candidate (with the exception of being a quitter which I will avoid tying to her gender). I was afforded an out in the Presidential election as McCain's conquest of Montana looked and was certain. Voting there in the last election, I voted for Bob Barr and avoided the choice of McCain/Palin.

Conservatism is now in disarray having banked heavily on a mercurial political amateur as their best hope. There's still plenty of time before 2012, and Barrack Obama himself may be our biggest ally causing the electorate to pick anyone BUT him, in that cycle.

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Happy Birthday, United States of America

Just Remember:

This goes hand in hand with a thought offered by Robert A. Heinlein:

"An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life."

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Palin Resigns, at the end of this month - UPDATED

I'm guessing you can't run for President and run Alaska. The resignation will be effective July 26th. Time differences, distance, all of that figures into decision I am sure. Don't be surprised entirely if she shows up in some major GOP post like replacing likable but ineffective Michael Steele.

UPDATE: The Anchorage Daily News has some speculating in the same fashion as I did earlier:

"Republican Party of Alaska Chairman Randy Ruedrich reacted with 'complete surprise' to Palin's decision to step down.

But he said it could free Palin up to spread her message. 'For the governor to make any statement in person in the Lower 48 is at least a six-hour plane trip to the central U.S.'

'She can become a much more functional spokesman for Alaska working from a more southerly location,' Ruedrich said."

Randy Ruedrich and I are explaining Sarah's actions in the same way, but as time passes and no confirming voices join Governor Palin, it's looking more like she crumbled under pressure, which I honestly hope is not the case. With Republican hopefuls in the 2012 Presidential race being taken out left and right, Palin crumbling under fire would not be a good sign for the party in general. Listening to the News Conference also seems to reveal a woman who is profoundly angry and in a reactive mode, and just quit, without a plan.


William A. Jacobson at "Legal Insurrection" has an interesting take as well.

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What ever happened to the "Manna Storehouse?"

The other aggravating infringement on individual rights last year that really caught my attention was the Manna Storehouse.

It's gone quiet since most of the action now is in the courts. The Stowers have chosen not to try their case in the press, probably because the state isn't exactly trying their case against them in the press. Harold Thomas at The Ohio Republic brings us up to speed.

"About four months ago, the defendants, the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the Lorain County Sheriff, filed a motion to take the case to the U.S. District Court of Appeals. The purpose of making it a Federal case is that Article I of the Ohio Constitution contains more stringent guarantees of personal liberties than does the U.S. Constitution. Mr. Thompson anticipates that the Federal Court will return the issue to the State courts, but the Federal courts work slowly, and it may be two or three months before it is returned to an Ohio court."

Is Law Enforcement interested in protecting your rights? Clearly not. They are told to. When it's left up to Law Enforcement, they take a state defendant, a state plaintiff, and entirely state actors, and try them on a federal stage. Why? Because in this case, the defendant has less rights there. I deeply respect Law Enforcement, something I may not communicate here adequately, but they are human beings. Remember, even Jefferson acted like a Federalist, when he became President. It's not terribly surprising then, to find Ohio Law choosing Federal Law, because the defendants in an all Ohio scrap, have more rights in an Ohio Court.

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I think I'm at peace with it. UPDATED

It was a bad week to be famous.

Goodbye to the many celebrities who passed in the last 7 days, Karl Malden (Mladen George Sekulovich), (George Harvey) "Harve" Presnell, Farrah (Leni) Fawcett, and of course, Michael (Joseph) Jackson.

My apologies to any celebs I missed. (A reader below points out the sin of missing (William Darrell) Billy Mays Jr.!) It was tough to notice with Michael "Headlining" the obits. Hat tip to "Althouse."

For a different take altogether, try Michelle at Six Meat Buffet, who offers up this observation of Michael Jackson's death. Come on, we all thought it.

"The way I see it, asking us to remember Michael Jackson as a magnificent talent is like asking us to remember John Wayne Gacy for being a hilarious clown."

Read it all. Michelle points to Linda Stasi cutting loose at the New York Post. One of the reasons these people are paid to write (Stasi) is that they do it better than we do. Here's the evidence. Yes, we all thought it once again, but Linda says it with a little crack to the whip.

"(I)t's about time somebody had the nerve to say what millions of people must feel and believe about the once-talented black man who turned himself into a white woman before turning himself into a monster."

Now, can we have some real news?

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